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Monday, 13 July 2009

United Kongdom

Flitting back and forth between UK and US acts (with the odd stop further afield, for the sake of culturing oneself) has always been a given for Heavier-Than-Air. Being based in a hotbed of US musical activity now, however, it affords an extra bonus in keeping these ears actively trained over to old Blighty, now that they're not exposed to homegrown talent on a daily basis.

Aside from providing more interesting sounds to write about in this here space, it also largely prevents me missing exciting releases from my own back yard. It helps me avoid missing excellent releases from bands like Kong.

Featuring members of Manchester's Oceansize, the only element significantly retained from that band's wonderfully sprawling audioscapes is the ambitious scope of the songs. Where Oceansize is the respectable, talented kid done good, though, Kong is the mutant offspring locked in the attic, being fed fish heads.

Their sound lurches wantonly across genre boundaries with scant regard for the dissonance and confusion erupting in their wake. As an example, the track that introduced me to the band - Sport - rides in on an angular riff that wouldn't feel out of place on a Shellac or Fugazi disc, before breaking down into a sludgy mélange of shrieked vocals, low-slung riffing, and schizophrenic drumming that recalls anyone from The Locust to Crowbar. A healthy headfuck of an adventurous aural mix, if ever there was one.

The new album, 'Snake Magnet', is out this week over in the Euro zone and with any luck their renowned live shows will earn them a reputation that some US contemporaries can't ignore. I can already hear some favoured Brooklyn venues being laid to waste.....destruction never sounded so beautiful.

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